PLANNING BOARDFEBRUARY 17, 2011
BOROUGH OF WANAQUE
REGULAR MEETING
Meeting called to order by Vice Chairman Joseph Graceffo with a salute to the flag at 8:05 P.M.
READING: Open Public Meeting Announcement
This is the Regular Meeting of the Wanaque Planning Board and adequate notice has been given and it has been duly advertised by the placement of a notice in the Suburban Trends and the Herald News on January 26, 2011 and a notice thereof has been posted on the bulletin board in the Municipal Building in the Borough of Wanaque and a copy thereof has been on file with the Borough Clerk.
ROLL CALL: Vice Chairman Graceffo, Mayor Mahler, Members Kevin Platt, Mark Reuter, John Shutte, Eugene Verba and David Slater
PRESENT: Attorney Steven Veltri and Engineer Michael Cristaldi
ABSENT: Chairman Gilbert Foulon, Councilman Dominick Cortellessa, and Member William Rucci.
MINUTES: from the January 20, 2011 Meeting. One change on page 3 of Regular Meeting Minutes under “Absent” – should be Member Shutte, not Slater.
MOTION TO APPROVE, WITH CHANGE: made by Member Slater, seconded by Member Reuter. Voting yes were Vice Chairman Graceffo, Mayor Mahler, Members Platt, Reuter, Verba and Slater. Member Shutte abstained.
COMMUNICATIONS REPORT: None
APPLICATION STATUS REPORT (Engineer’s Report): Engineer Cristaldi reported nothing new.
NEW BUSINESS APPLICATION: “Angel Star Pet Bazaar” (Pet Food & Supply Store)
1116 Ringwood Avenue, Haskell, NJ
Owner of Property are Abeth Realty Co., Inc., P.O. Box 333, Tenafly, NJ
Owner of Business is Mahendra PaiBir, President of Mars Business Group, LLC,
14G Concord Road, West Milford, NJ
Mahendra PaiBir is planning to open up a retail pet food and supply store with two employees. The products sold would be pet food, pet supplies, medications, and accessories. There will no pets for sale. Hours of operation would be 9am until 9pm. Deliveries will be able to be made without blocking any roads.
In reviewing the inspection reports, the only thing necessary is to update the fire extinguisher. Mr. PaiBir believes that has already been done and he will supply the Fire Prevention Bureau with proof.
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Platt, seconded by Member Reuter. Voting yes were Vice Chairman Graceffo, Mayor Mahler, Members Platt, Reuter, Shutte, Verba and Slater.
NEW BUSINESS APPLICATION: “King Performing Arts Centre”
533 Ringwood Avenue, Haskell, NJ
Owner of Property is Brendan King, 527 Ringwood Avenue, Wanaque, NJ
Owner of Business is Brendan King, 527 Ringwood Avenue, Wanaque, NJ
Brendan King has owned this building for over twenty years and recently lost the tenant so we are going to utilize the building ourselves so it would not be empty. It will be the same business as in 527 Ringwood Avenue only now we will be using two buildings as dance studio, etc.
Mr. King has applied for all permits necessary to update the building and conform to the inspection reports.
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Mayor Mahler, seconded by Member Shutte. Voting yes were Vice Chairman Graceffo, Mayor Mahler, Members Platt, Reuter, Shutte, Verba and Slater.
APPLICATION #PB2010-02 “Realty Associates Redevelopment, LLC”, Block 231 Lot 11
Property Address: 547 Ringwood Avenue, Wanaque
Application For Construction of 23 Residential Units(CD 10/21//2010)
Authorized Agent is Gittleman, Muhlstock & Chewcaskie, L.L.P., Esqs.
Brian Chewcaskie, Esq., the attorney for applicant Realty Associates Redevelopment, LLC, last appeared before the Board on January 20, 2011, at which time the application was complete. At that time, the Board Members were invited to visit one of the properties, which was identified during the hearing and, in fact, some members visited the Butler property on Wednesday, January 26, 2011.
At the last hearing, there were questions with regard to Passaic County. David Beesley of Bertin Engineering did meet with the Passaic County Planning Department on February 1, 2011 and all issues contained in their review letter were addressed. Revised drawings and a response to their review letter were submitted on February 9, 2011.
Since the Board questioned what the front of the building was going to look like, a rendering of the front of the building has been presented and entered into evidence as Exhibit A-7. The architect prepared three alternate renderings of what the front of the building could look like. Vice Chairman Graceffo recommends the Board approve Alternate A and have it noted on record, along with the fact that the building will be constructed using the materials as illustrated. Attorney Chewcaskie agreed that the materials identified in Exhibit A-2 will be used for the building.
Attorney Chewcaskie summed up that the relief that was necessary, in terms of variations, is a result of the existing conditions of the property. We have satisfied all the bulk requirements with respect to this project, irrespective of the fact that the lot is narrower than what was required within that zone.
Engineer Cristaldi Referencing the Driveway – When you are coming out of the driveway, the driveway widens up on the south side on the right-hand side coming out towards Ringwood Avenue, at that point where it widens at the right, could you also on the north side widen it at the same taper until you get two feet from the property line so that by the time you reach the road, you would have about a thirty foot driveway opening at the road? You would be using eight feet of the northerly property to obtain this.
Attorney Chewcaskie advised that the County had requested that the driveway opening be made wider. Because I was not at the meeting, I cannot say that it is going to be thirty feet. The County did suggest the driveway be made wider at the intersection of Melrose Avenue, so that when it reaches that point, as you are getting closer to the street, it is getting wider. They do have to grant a waiver and I believe they are, but it is going to meet the standards that they want to achieve.
Engineer Cristaldi advised that, if the County knows that our Board would prefer the driveway be a little wider, sometimes the applicant has a little more leverage dealing with the County to get a wider opening.
Attorney Chewcaski, because Engineer Beesley isn’t here tonight, stated that if the Board were inclined to approve if the driveway could be made wider in accordance with the recommendations of the County, we would certainly try to achieve that.
Engineer Cristaldi also questioned putting in additional drainage in the rear of the property to make sure runoff did not go onto the neighboring properties.
Attorney Chewcaski advised that the drainage had to be recalculated because of the County and that was done and will send it to you. This will be one of the conditions in the Developers Agreement.
VICE CHAIRMAN GRACEFFO ENTERTAINED A MOTION TO OPEN TONIGHT’S PORTION ONLY OF THIS APPLICATION TO THE PUBLIC: made by Member Platt, seconded by Mayor Mahler. Voting yes were Vice Chairman Graceffo, Mayor Mahler, Members Platt, Reuter, Shutte, Verba and Slater.
John DiMeglio, 414 Ringwood Avenue, Wanaque, New Jersey
I understand the building is two-stories high. Vice Chairman Graceffo advised 36’ high and two-stories up.
How is this building going to look and conform to the other buildings in this area? I hope it doesn’t look out of place. Vice Chairman Graceffo referred to the renderings.
Attorney Chewcaskie advised the application does conform to the height requirement of the Ordinance.
How many parking spaces do you have for the 23 units? Vice Chairman Graceffo answered that they have designed 47 and the requirements are 45.
How many bedrooms? They are only going to be one and two bedroom units and handicapped accessible.
What about the traffic on Ringwood Avenue and the fact that there is parking on one side of the road for businesses? Vice Chairman Graceffo advised that this is one of the reasons we are suggesting the opening of the driveway be made wider to allow for easier access onto the site.
VICE CHAIRMAN GRACEFFO ENTERTAINED A MOTION TO CLOSE THS PORTION OF THE APPLICATION TO THE PUBLIC: made by Member Reuter, seconded by Member Shutte. Voting yes were Vice Chairman Graceffo, Mayor Mahler, Members Platt, Reuter, Shutte, Verba and Slater.
VICE CHAIRMAN GRACEFFO ENTERTAINED A MOTION FOR THE BOARD MEMBERS TO DISCUSS THIS APPLICATION AND MOTION: made by Member Reuter, seconded by Member Platt.
Vice Chairman Graceffo – Before we vote on the Motion, I am going to request our Attorney review all of the discussions we have had during the last two meetings so the Board will know exactly some of the specifics that we’ve been discussing, which will be voted upon and placed into the final form of the Resolution.
Attorney Veltri is placing some facts on the record for the Board to either adopt them, change them or decline to use them:
The Applicant is Realty Associates Redevelopment, LLC. Property is 546 Ringwood Avenue, Wanaque, New Jersey, Block 231, Lot 11. The Applicant is here for a Preliminary and Final Site Plan approval to construct a 23 Unit Residential Building in the Midvale Redevelopment Area. They have applied for and advertised for the following variances or waivers:
- Average minimum lot width – 120 feet is required; 100 feet exists
- Side yard buffer area – 10 foot landscaped buffer required; 5 feet is proposed
- Access egress point – 2 required for this number of units; 1 is proposed
- Access aisles – 12 feet is required; 10 feet is proposed
- Parking aisles – 25 feet is required; 24 feet is proposed
Assuming that the Board would vote to approve this Application, the conditions that we spoke about at the last meeting were that all the representations and stipulations of the Applicant must be true and accurate. They included that the building would be built in accordance with all RSIS Standards; that the building would be sprinkler; that the architectural style, color and materials represented on the record and in the rendering would be, in fact, what will be built; the Applicant would have to enter into a separate Developers Agreement with the Borough and address any and all other issues related to the construction of this building and tonight, we further added that the landscape and berm would be discussed and incorporated into that Agreement. The Applicant must satisfy any and all affordable housing obligations created by this building either on-site or, alternatively, transfer to a different site or make a cash contribution. The Applicant must obtain Passaic County Planning Board approval, utility approvals and soil erosion approvals and any other State or County approvals that are necessary to construct the building. The Applicant will also comply with all the conditions outlined in Engineer Cristaldi’s Report. The Board also indicated that the Applicant’s representation that the air conditioning units would be individual wall units and not a stand-alone compressor on site. Finally, as addressed tonight, it is the Board’s preference that the driveway entrance is widen to 30 feet by using 8 feet of the 10 foot northerly buffer to increase the driveway width. Obviously, this is a County issue, but this is the Board’s preference and, if the County would accommodate that, the Applicant would not have to come back.
Vice Chairman questioned the Board Members if they had any questions, additions or concerns to the proposed Motion. None were brought up.
MOTION TO ACCEPT THE PROPOSED INFORMATION/RECOMMENDATION OF THE BOARD ATTORNEY TO INCORPORATE IN THE MOTION APPROVING THIS APPLICATION: made by Member Shutte, seconded by Member Platt. Voting yes were Vice Chairman Graceffo, Mayor Mahler, Members Platt, Reuter, Shutte, Verba and Slater.
Vice Chairman Graceffo advised that there is a Motion on the floor and we want to be certain that the specifics that have been discussed during the last two meetings are a part of the Motion as outlined by the Board Attorney and the Board has taken the position of accepting those specifications.
MOTION FOR APPROVAL OF THE REDEVELOPMENT OF BLOCK 321, LOT 11, LOCATED AT 547 RINGWOOD AVENUE FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF 23 RESIDENTIAL UNITS: Roll Call: Voting yes were Vice Chairman Graceffo, Mayor Mahler, Members Platt, Reuter and Verba. Member Shutte abstained. Member Slater voted no.
MOTION FOR APPROVAL OF THE PRELIMINARY AND FINAL SITE PLAN WITH THE VARIANCE WAIVER REQUESTS AND FOR THE PURPOSES AND CONDITIONS AS OUTLINED BY THE BOARD ATTORNEY: made by Member Reuter, seconded by Member Verba. Voting yes were Vice Chairman Graceffo, Mayor Mahler, Members Platt, Reuter and Verba. Member Shutte abstained. Member Slater voted no. Motion Carried
PUBLIC DISCUSSION: None
RESOLUTION: None
VOUCHERS: submitted by Alaimo Engineering for Monthly Meeting Attendance for period ending December 31, 2010 in the amount of $190.
MOTION TO APPROVE: made by Member Reuter, seconded by Member Slater. Voting Yes were Vice Chairman Graceffo, Mayor Mahler, Members Platt, Reuter, Shutte, Verba and Slater.
RESIGNATION OF WILLIAM RUCCI: William Rucci has submitted his Letter of Resignation to the Planning Board effective as of the date of the letter, January 10, 2011. The Board has accepted his resignation and appreciates his services for over the past six years.
MOTION TO ADJOURN AT 8:43 P.M.: made by Member Slater, seconded by Member Shutte. Carried by a voice vote.
______
Jennifer A. Fiorito
Planning Board Secretary
1